Americans are worried about privacy online, but that can be hard to come by in this age of ubiquitous information gathering. Many feel it may be too late to do anything about it.

According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, more than four out of five Americans (81%) believe it’s not secure to use social media to share personal information, while 68 percent feel the same way about online chatting and 59 percent about text messaging. However, 55 percent are willing to give up some of their personal info with online outlets to help keep those outlets free to use.

While it’s commonly thought that youth care less about privacy than older Americans, the Pew study suggests the opposite is true. About 59 percent of Millennials believe the content of email is “very sensitive,” while 42 percent of older adults feel the same way.

“There’s a pretty big, mounting body of evidence that suggests young adults are just as likely to care, if not more so, when it comes to awareness of government surveillance,” says Mary Madden, one of the study’s authors and a senior researcher for Pew’s Internet Project. (The New York Times)

Paul Asay has written for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for PluggedIn and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He recently collaborated with Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, on his book The Good Dad. He lives in Colorado Springs with wife, Wendy, and his two children. Check out his entertainment blog at Patheos.com/blogs/WatchingGod or follow him on Twitter.